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Inside The Nintendo GameCube
Mortin writes "Icrontic.com has ripped apart a Nintendo GameCube. They document the entire procedure with a myriad of pictures. It's neat to see how clearly the Xbox and GameCube differ in respect to physical hardware." Luigi's mansion looks cool. The Star Wars game wasn't very fun. But the cube is so tiny, it's cute!
Check out this article over at ign.com. Nintendo is claiming 2:1 sales over the xbox and 25% more units sold than the PS2 in it's first week.
I have a relative who works for Best Buy corporate and she says the Gamecube is outselling the Xbox across the US in their stores by a substantial margin as well.
Xbox will be dead in a year. The game industry doesn't give a shit about third place (ask Sega).
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Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
To go off on a tangent for a paragraph or so... I would pick the GameCube over the Xbox any day. Personally, I believe the Xbox is simply Microsoft's way of trying to monopolize yet another market with their inferior stuff. With the Sony PS2 and GameCube on the market, I believe there is no room for the Xbox. If you want a computer to run Linux or one of the BSDs on, get a real computer and don't support Microsoft. And if you don't want a whole computer, pick up a Circuit Cellar or some other magazine and get one of those 4x4 inch boards that contains a complete Pentium computer with everything, sometimes including even the sound hardware. Seriously, I really honestly believe that Microsoft is leveraging their monopoly in the area of operating systems and office productivity software to obtain monopolies in other areas as well. They've been talking about getting into the games market for about 5 or 6 years that I remember. (There were articles in the gaming magazines about 5 or 6 years ago with Bill Gates' pictures all over them.) I think Microsoft has done quite enough to put perfectly good companies out of business and take over markets with their inferior products (only because of the strength and vigor of their marketing).
Now back on subject:Both the GameCube and Sony's PS2 are very nice machines. I like how, over the years, these things have slowly transformed from machines designed only for video games into machines that serve as a nice component in a home theater (or, as they were called in the 80's, home entertainment systems--this makes more sense to me than home theater, as a theater is a place where you watch plays, a cinema is a place where you watch movies (so it should be called a home cinema rather than a home theater) and an entertainment center can contain any kind of component that serves to entertain). Nice article, and pictures.
Oh well.
Nintendos done everything right.
As far as hardware goes, PS2 went for all polygons and no textures and is barely better than Dreamcast.
Dreamcast went with good textures, low polygons, and PS2 was able to hype up 60 million polygons per second and make Dreamcast sound cheap.
What Nintendo did, was alittle of both, Polygon power thats 12 million polygons per second, which is twice the power of the Dreamcast.
And 64 megs of ram, This is more ram than any other system and not just any ram but FAST ram.
Nintendo realized the quality of rendering, and the special effects are more important than the pure polygon power.
PS2 has better special effects and you see it in certain games, Theres a new water racing game for the PS2 which has the most realistic water i've ever seen, photorealistic and definately better than wave race. Problem is, while PS2 games have better physics, the color quality is horrible. Metal Gear Solid 2 the best game PS2 has to offer right now, clearly lacks color and textures, and this is why a game like Shenmue on the dreamcast actually looks more realistic. Color and Textures are very important, not just physics.
Xbox has the most potential hardware wise, A pentium 3 which can be used for Physics and a high quality graphics chip, However Gamecube is easier to program for, so while Xbox has the potential to destroy the game cube, right now Gamecube games look better simply because its easier to right them, so with Xbox you have an almost Sega Saturn style system which gives programmers too much power
and while Microsoft makes good development tools, we have yet to see what Xbox can do and most likely wont see what it can do for a couple of years.
So why do i believe Gamecube did everything right?
Cheap, Its cheaper than all the competition.
Marketing, It has some of the best commercials I've ever seen.
Power, while Xbox may be more powerful, Gamecube has better looking games.
I expect Gamecube to outsell all systems this year and Next year and perhaps be the console to Dominate. If the Marketing remains at this level, and Xbox doesnt get some good games fast, I dont think Gamecube will have any serious competition. PS2 is still in the picture, but they better have an ace up their sleeve or they will go the way of the Dreamcast.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
Sony has the weakest System.
Sales in the USA are more important than Japan, Genesis never sold in Japan and N64 didnt sell well in Japan until late in its life and only because of pokemon.
PS2 cant keep up in the graphics department, cant keep up in the price department, or the games department with Nintendo.
Ps2 can keep up with Xbox but this is America and Microsoft has too much influence here.
I expect Gamecube to lead in the USA.
Xbox to be second.
Ps2 to lead in japan but fail in the USA.
Why? PS2 has games, but so do all the other systems.
Ps2s price is expensive, yet its the weakest.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
this console looks well made. i would buy one of these over an xbox anyday, not to mention its not an M$ product.. be careful.. we will wake up one day reading the Microsoft times, turning on our televisions to watch Microsoft run television, and our kids will grow up in a microsoft controlled world. my first console as a kid was the original Nintendo, and I awed at playing mario bros. and duck hunt (yeah, lame) if you like consoles, buy a gamecube, because it is a console.. not a glorified computer. if you want a microsoft world, by all means buy an xbox. i like consoles, and i like gaming.. but i will stick to my preference, FPS games. its been cool looking at the guts of this console, even if the webserver has been DDOS'd by us slashdotters. :)
we should be leary of that xbox... it might assimilate you in your sleep.
so, protect your kids and yourself and buy a gamecube.
we were discussing this on irc (irc.justirc.net)
and many of our users say down to the xbox, and long live nintendo
now here is my question, to the actual owners of this hardware..
does it boot from the cd, like playstations do?
or does this load an os from a rom?
if it does boot from a disk, why couldnt someone hack up a loader and start it up using ppc linux? :)
im sure this is already in the works.
Nintendo = Apple
As time goes by, it is clear that Nintendo is becoming the Apple of the video game world. What that means for its future is obvious -- it will always have the maximum respect, others will always try to steal something from it, it will always be the acme of its time, and it will never be defeated.
Just like Apple, Nintendo produces the world's best software for superior consumer hardware. There is Mac OS X and Metroid. There is QuickTime and Mario. There is Aqua and Zelda.
Mac OS X is so advanced that its raw, God-like potential will not be fully appreciated for at least several years. It is untouchable -- just like Metroid. Both share an existence to unique and powerful that nobody dares making something similar. Just as Apple has embarked on a new journey for its latest version of Mac OS , Nintendo has done the same for Metroid Prime -- changing Metroid into a first-person experience.
Mario is the ultimate ruler of all video game characters, just like QuickTime owns all other media players. Everyone who tries to make a fake Mario (i.e. Sonic the homosexual hedgehog) fails miserably and ends up blowing their brains out.
Have you ever tried to look at porn movies that just can't be viewed with QuickTime player? Wimp has never worked, and Real just sucks (it will "Real"ly make you lose your boner). Real and Sega might have a beautiful but meaningless future relationship.
Aqua is Apple's gorgous new interface. Nintendo also has a legendary new look for its Legend of Zelda series that is going to combine cartoon nostalgia with revolutionary graphics.
If that doesn't convince you, just look at the GameCube's hardware. Its CPU is a PPC, which comes from the same family of chips as the one that your Mac has (and the superiority of the Macintosh can always be proven).
Apple and Nintendo even have the same mortal enemies -- Fugly, boring, evil machines with disgraceful, uninteresting software. And Microsoft.
Samus Aran could easily take out any character from Halo. In fact, she could take them all on at the same time. She probably wouldn't even break a sweat, considering that they would probably turn traitorous, just like the company that made them -- Bungie.
That is why I urge all hardcore Mac users who are interested in purchasing a video game console to get a Nintendo GameCube. If Nintendo retakes the video game world, then it will not be that difficult for Apple to own the computer world.
If you have already purchased (or have been given) an Xbox or a PS2, simply bring it outside of a video game store, with a sledgehammer, and tell everyone how boring, crappy, and slow the system is, and how you are not going to give Bill Gates any more of your money. Then smash it to fucking bits. If you have an Apple or Nintendo shirt, wear it for extra impact.
We can do this. People just have more fun with Apples and Nintendos.
Nintendo = Apple
As time goes by, it is clear that Nintendo is becoming the Apple of the video game world. What that means for its future is obvious -- it will always have the maximum respect, others will always try to steal something from it, it will always be the acme of its time, and it will never be defeated.
Just like Apple, Nintendo produces the world's best software for superior consumer hardware. There is Mac OS X and Metroid. There is QuickTime and Mario. There is Aqua and Zelda.
Mac OS X is so advanced that its raw, God-like potential will not be fully appreciated for at least several years. It is untouchable -- just like Metroid. Both share an existence to unique and powerful that nobody dares making something similar. Just as Apple has embarked on a new journey for its latest version of Mac OS , Nintendo has done the same for Metroid Prime -- changing Metroid into a first-person experience.
Mario is the ultimate ruler of all video game characters, just like QuickTime owns all other media players. Everyone who tries to make a fake Mario (i.e. Sonic the homosexual hedgehog) fails miserably and ends up blowing their brains out.
Have you ever tried to look at porn movies that just can't be viewed with QuickTime player? Wimp has never worked, and Real just sucks (it will "Real"ly make you lose your boner). Real and Sega might have a beautiful but meaningless future relationship.
Aqua is Apple's gorgous new interface. Nintendo also has a legendary new look for its Legend of Zelda series that is going to combine cartoon nostalgia with revolutionary graphics.
If that doesn't convince you, just look at the GameCube's hardware. Its CPU is a PPC, which comes from the same family of chips as the one that your Mac has (and the superiority of the Macintosh can always be proven).
Apple and Nintendo even have the same mortal enemies -- Fugly, boring, evil machines with disgraceful, uninteresting software. And Microsoft.
Samus Aran could easily take out any character from Halo. In fact, she could take them all on at the same time. She probably wouldn't even break a sweat, considering that they would probably turn traitorous, just like the company that made them -- Bungie.
That is why I urge all hardcore Mac users who are interested in purchasing a video game console to get a Nintendo GameCube. If Nintendo retakes the video game world, then it will not be that difficult for Apple to own the computer world.
If you have already purchased (or have been given) an Xbox or a PS2, simply bring it outside of a video game store, with a sledgehammer, and tell everyone how boring, crappy, and slow the system is, and how you are not going to give Bill Gates any more of your money. Then smash it to fucking bits. If you have an Apple or Nintendo shirt, wear it for extra impact.
We can do this. People just have more fun with Apples and Nintendos.
Holy shit, this is funny as hell. :)
Why bother.